In recent discussions about potency-enhancing drugs such as sildenafil, health hazards associated with sexual activity have
attracted increasing attention (
1). In a medicolegal postmortem study performed in the Center of Legal Medicine at the University Hospital in Frank furt/Main
over a 33-year period (1972–2004), about 32,000 forensic autopsies revealed 68 (0.22%) natural deaths occurring during sexual
activity. Except for 5 women (7.4%; average age 39.8 years), in most cases, men were involved (92.6%; average age 59.1 years).
The most frequent cause of death was myocardial infarction (
n=28; 41.2%). In three cases, pericardial tamponade accompanied by myomalacia were observed. In 20 patients (29.4%), coronary
artery disease (CAD) without signs of acute myocardial infarction (MI) was diagnosed. The medical history of 19 of the deceased
indicated previous MI. There were seven cerebral hemorrhages (10.3%). The annual incidence of sudden cardiovascular death
during sexual activity is estimated to be 1.9 per 1000 autopsies for men and 0.16 per 1000 autopsies for women (
1). It is necessary to inform patients with CAD about prodromes and risk in relation to any form of physical and/or emotional
stress.
Key Words Sexualactivity - coital death - sudden coronary death - myocardial infarction - coronary artery disease
This study was presented at the Sixth International Symposium in Advanced Legal Medicine (ISALM), Hamburg, Germany, September
2006.